THIS WEEK IN COLLEGE FOOTBALL REFORM
For Immediate Release
Thursday, November 24, 2009
Contact: Matthew Sanderson, Press@PlayoffPAC.com
Playoff Supporter of the Week—Nike Founder Phil Knight
Every week, Playoff PAC highlights a prominent community leader in government, sports, or entertainment who favors college football reform.
§ “BCS—I don't know what the 'B' and the 'C' stand for, but the 'S' is for 'screwed,' which [Texas Coach] Mack Brown got last year... He's gonna pass that baton to Boise State, TCU, and Cincinnati.” – Nike Founder Phil Knight, ESPN College GameDay (October 31, 2009).
Playoff PAC in the News…
§ Andy Barr, BCS Puts Ari Fleischer in the Lineup, Politico (Nov. 23, 2009)
o “The BCS has faced recent political pressure from Playoff PAC, a federal political action committee that has organized an anti-BCS messaging and lobbying effort. The group was created by six college football fans with political expertise, including Matthew Sanderson, former campaign finance counsel to Sen. John McCain’s (R-Ariz.) presidential campaign.”
§ Dick Harmon, BCS Fight Heating Up with New Participants, Deseret News (Nov. 24, 2009).
o “Remember how we emphasized how the folks behind the BCS don't flinch a bit over the cartel's operations unless threatened by government intervention? Well, there's some flinching going on…. [T]he day after the first BCS poll came out, a political action committee, PlayoffPAC, kicked off a lobby effort in Washington, D.C., to gather muscle from among public officials for a playoff instead of the BCS. Flinch, flinch.”
o Since PlayoffPAC's announcement, it took about 30 days for the BCS (six conferences with automatic qualifiers) to hire spokesman Bill Hancock as executive director, a new, full-time position…. And a week after Hancock took the new BCS post, Hancock hired former White House press secretary Ari Fleischer and his public relations firm to help turn public opinion and anti-BCS sentiment among elected officials, including President Barack Obama.”
Quote of the Week—“One Issue Unites Fans of Every Conference”
§ “One issue unites fans of every conference. Most of you despise the way major college football picks a national champion. Only 17.9 percent prefer the BCS or the old bowl system. Meanwhile, 20.8 percent would prefer a plus-one, and 60.4 percent would prefer a full-blown playoff.” – Andy Staples, Survey Shows Where Fans of All Conferences Agree, Disagree, SI.com (Nov. 18, 2009).
On Playoff PAC’s Blog…
§ With “Fans” Like These... -- Greatest Hits from the New BCS Social Networking Sites
o “As you may have discovered, the BCS recently started a Facebook page and a Twitter account. We can’t blame the BCS for wanting to try to improve their image—a recent Sports Illustrated survey found that only 10% of college football fans surveyed prefer the status quo. But perhaps Facebook and Twitter aren’t the best outlets for an organization that is so uniformly despised.”
Important Media
§ Andy Staples, Survey Shows Where Fans of All Conferences Agree, Disagree, SI.com (Nov. 18, 2009).
§ Sally Jenkins, Should This Be the Year of the Horned Frog?, The Washington Post (Nov. 20, 2009).
§ Tim Cary, The BCS and Its Awkward Encounter with Social Media, The Sports Business Exchange (Nov. 20, 2009).
§ Jim Souhan, Big College Football Saturday. Or Not., Star-Tribune Sports Blog (Nov. 21, 2009).